In a career that has spanned 53 starts, Stephen Strasburg has pitched in 15 different big-league cities, though never in his hometown of San Diego. Tonight, the hometown hero finally gets to cross that milestone off his bucket list, taking the mound at Petco Park for the Nationals' series opener against the Padres. Of far greater concern to Strasburg and the Nats than the location of this outing: How well he pitches tonight after his fifth inning meltdown against the Cubs on Saturday.

The Nationals' struggling lineup could get a jolt with Bryce Harper back after missing the last two games following his collision with the fence in L.A. (He did come off the bench last night to pinch-hit late.) The Nats could certainly use their best hitter again, though of course only if he's healthy enough to perform at his peak level.

Speaking of health, Wilson Ramos has officially been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a recurrence of his hamstring strain. That means Kurt Suzuki will once again become the everyday catcher, with Jhonatan Solano returning from Class AAA Syracuse to serve as his backup.

I'm not on the West Coast, but I will be talking Nats tonight on the latest edition of "The Baseball Show" on CSN. Note the delayed 11:30 p.m. EDT start time, which should fall somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning of the Nats game…